More HISD students taking, passing AP exams

More students at HISD taking, passing AP examsBut test-takers from some schools perform notably better than others

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, November 2, 2006

Houston ISD students took a record number of Advanced Placement exams last school year, yet the majority of those scoring high enough to earn college credit came from select campuses.

Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said the increase in students taking and passing the exams shows the Houston Independent School District is doing a better job preparing students for college.

But he acknowledged that some schools are doing better than others.

"Make no mistake, we still have a long way to go. We need to have many more students taking and passing AP exams," Saavedra said Wednesday at Bellaire High School, which by far had the highest number of exams taken and passed.

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Across the district, students attempted nearly 8,100 AP exams in various subjects in 2005-06, compared with 7,188 the previous year. Almost half the test-takers each year earned passing scores — which could translate into free course credits at many colleges.

But students from some high schools were much more likely to take and pass the exams. Nearly two-thirds of the passing scores came from two high schools: Bellaire and Westside. Of all the comprehensive high schools in the district, those two campuses have the lowest percentages of low-income students, who traditionally struggle more in school.

At Bellaire, students passed 1,805 tests. At Westside, they passed 643.

Nine schools, on the other hand, produced fewer than 10 passing exams. Wheatley High School had zero.

Bellaire Principal Tim Salem gave the credit to the students and their parents.

"We have the best in our school and, actually, I feel that my job is easy because the kids come to us with a college-bound mentality," Salem said. "And we have to thank the parents for that."

Jose Zuniga, a Bellaire senior who passed three AP exams last year, said he enrolled in the advanced courses because his regular classes weren't hard enough. He took the tests "to try to save some money."

The cost for students in Texas to take an AP exam ranges from $5 to $52 — a bargain compared with a traditional college course.

HISD leaders have been encouraging more students to enroll in AP courses as part of Saavedra's larger plan to create a "college-bound culture." And since 2001, the number of students participating has more than doubled. The number of passing exams — with a score of 3, 4 or 5 — has increased from 2,160 to 3,844.

As an incentive, the district for the first time last year offered money to students and their teachers if the students performed well on exams in core subjects.

Thanks to a grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, students at four high schools — Chavez, Lee, Milby and Sharpstown — were eligible to earn $300 for each exam they passed in math, science and English. Their teachers could earn the same. Three of those schools increased the overall number of passing exams this year, but Chavez's number dropped from 180 to 72.

Saavedra did not specifically address the decrease at Chavez, but he said that several schools whose numbers declined had a hard time finding qualified AP teachers.

According to some researchers, students who take AP courses have a better chance of succeeding in college, even if they don't pass the exams.

Some college officials, however, have worried that not all high schools are offering rigorous enough AP courses. In response, the College Board plans to ask schools to audit their courses next school year.

The College Board, which also administers the SAT college-entrance exam, offers AP exams in various subjects, including art history, physics and world history.

In HISD, the most popular exam taken last year was English language and composition. But the Spanish language exam accounted for the highest number of tests passed overall. HISD administrators have said previously that the course is rigorous, even though many students come to the district already fluent in Spanish.

At his news conference Wednesday, Saavedra followed his praise of Bellaire with a pat on the back for Waltrip High School — a high-poverty school that exemplifies most in the district. It made progress — doubling its number of passing scores from 10 to 21.